Multi-Mode Fibre Optic

Emulex adapters support Multi Mode Fibre Optic Cables (MMF) with LC type connector. "LC" refers to the actual connector on the end of the cable, and it stands for "Lucent Connector". There are several kinds of MMF cables that can be purchased, the difference between one type of MMF cable and another is in the size of the core of the cable, which then determines how far apart the HBA can be from a target – also called the link length. Link length is also contingent on the bandwidth designation of the cable, OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4.

Fibre Optic Cable Characteristics

SFP

SFP stands for Small Form Pluggable – the first generation of the SFP interconnect system, with a maximum data rate of 4.25Gb/s. Emulex Fibre Channel HBAs up to 4Gb/s, are shipped with one, two, or four SFP Optical Transceivers installed/soldered to the board.

SFP+

SFP+ stands for Small Form Pluggable Plus – the second generation of the SFP interconnect system, supporting data rates up to 10Gb/s. SFP+ modules can be plugged into an SFP+ cage that is installed on the board, which allows you to swap out an optical module in the event of a failure. If you order an 8Gb/s Emulex Fibre Channel HBA, it is shipped with one, two, or four SFP+ Optical Transceivers installed in the SFP+ cages on the board.

DAC/TwinAx

Emulex adapters support both Active and Passive types of Direct Attached Copper (DAC) devices. Refer to the specification for the switch that you will be connecting to when procuring DAC cables. These cables have a special type of transceiver soldered directly onto the cable. The idea is to convert the optical 10GBASE-SR laser signal into a signal that can be carried over short distances (up to 10 meters / about 30 feet) within a data center rack over the attached copper wires. This is also referred to as 10 GBASE-CR “Copper Reach”.

SFP+

SFP+ stands for Small Form Pluggable Plus – the second generation of the SFP interconnect system, supporting data rates up to 10Gb/s. SFP+ modules can be plugged into an SFP+ cage that is installed on the board, which allows you to swap out an optical module in the event of a failure. Optical versions of OneConnect adapters (10GBASE-SR) ship with two SFP Optical Transceivers installed in the SFP+ cages on the board. Copper versions of OneConnect adapters (10GBASE-CR) can be connected with a Direct Attached Copper (DAC or TwinAx) cable.